Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day, the celebration of computer mapping, will be at City Hall Wednesday, Nov. 14, with a variety of geography-related activities and displays on the first-floor concourse.

Last year, the GIS Services staff demonstrated what GIS is and how it helps make Bellevue a better place. This year, the team (part of the city's Information Technology Department) will show how GIS is helping the city follow through on its environmental stewardship initiative.

Open to the public, GIS Day will feature map displays, online interactive maps and a quick orienteering exercise around City Hall. Visitors can take a quiz and view maps generated to examine environmental issues from various angles, such as Clean Water Act regulations, impervious surface analysis and pedestrian and bike-friendly corridors.

GIS offers ways to integrate all kinds of information about a place into an image or map, and many city departments rely on geographical analysis and tools in their day-to-day service to the public.